US gov't opening waters for drilling
The U.S. Department of the Interior will sell a lease of 38 million acres off the coasts of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.
The DOI said this region contains close to 31 billion barrels of oil and 134 trillion cubic feet of natural gas that is currently undiscovered and technically recoverable.
Government officials estimate that one billion barrels of oil could be recovered from this site.
The U.S. government is offering oil giants a chance to build more offshore rigs, but government officials are very clear over where they can be placed.
Inside the leasing documents, there's a stipulation which directly lists Baldwin County.
The documents say if oil rigs have to be constructed, they must be camouflaged or built in a way that limits their visibility from shore.
In other words, the government doesn't want the view from Baldwin County beaches to look like the view over at Dauphin Island.
"I hope we have a really good season this year," said Kristen Rice, the manager of Surf Style in Gulf Shores.
The store sits right along the beach, depending heavily on tourists. Rice thinks if oil rigs are visible from shore, they would give visitors bad memories.
"After the oil spill that we had, I just don't think that coming out here, I don't think people will want to see oil rigs," Rice said.
Gulf Shores resident Brooke Miller is glad she can't see oil rigs, and she doesn't want them anywhere- period.
"I don't agree with it. After the BP oil spill, I don't want any more drilling being done out there," Miller said.
Local government and tourism officials were unavailable for comment.
But back at Surf Style, Rice is too busy to think about the oil spill or oil rigs for that matter. She's busy stocking the store for the upcoming spring break.
The oil spill is now a memory, and Rice wants to leave it that way.
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